Fla. has top foreclosure rate for sixth month

WASHINGTON – March 14, 2013 – Florida posted the nation’s highest state foreclosure rate for the sixth consecutive month in February, according to RealtyTrac’s Foreclosure Market Report for February 2013: One in every 282 housing units with a mortgage had a foreclosure filing during the month – more than three times the national average.

A total of 31,726 Florida properties had a foreclosure filing during February, up 6 percent from the previous month and up 20 percent year-to-year, reaching a 16-month high. Foreclosure filings include default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions.

Florida cities (population of 200,000 or more) also accounted for seven of the nation’s 10 highest metro foreclosure rates in February; Miami’s metro area posted the highest rate in the nation (one in every 219 housing units).

Other Florida MSAs in RealtyTrac’s top 10 include: Orlando at No. 2 (one in 225 housing units with a foreclosure filing); Ocala No. 3 (one in 243); Tampa No. 4 (one in 253); Palm Bay No. 5 (one in 260); Jacksonville No. 8 (one in 302); and Naples No. 9 (one in 318). Foreclosure activity increased from a year ago in all seven Florida cities with top 10 metro foreclosure rates.

Dr. Sean Snaith, head of the Institute for Economic Competitiveness at the University of Central Florida, told the Bradenton Herald that the RealtyTrac data “reflects the length of time it takes for foreclosures to get through the judicial system” in Florida. In California and other states where foreclosures don’t go through the courts, they have been able to resolve foreclosures more quickly, he said.

Nationally, RealtyTrac reports 154,281 U.S. foreclosure filings in February, an increase of 2 percent from the previous month but down 25 percent from February 2012. One in every 849 U.S. housing units saw a foreclosure filing during the month.

“At a high level the U.S. foreclosure inferno has been effectively contained and should be reduced to a slow burn in the next two years,” says Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac. “But dangerous foreclosure flare-ups are still popping up in states where foreclosures have been delayed by a lengthy court process or by new legislation making it more difficult to foreclose outside the court system. Foreclosure starts have been steadily building in those states over the last several months and likely will end up as bank repossessions or short sales later this year.”

High-level findings

• U.S. foreclosure starts increased 10 percent from the previous month after three consecutive monthly decreases, but they were still down 25 percent from February 2012.

• U.S. bank repossessions (REOs) decreased 11 percent from the previous month and were down 29 percent from February 2012 to the lowest level since September 2007 – a 65-month low.

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